Barra is good for GM

General Motors is not what it used to be -- for better and for worse -- yet the automaker's selection of Mary Barra as chief executive is a big deal.

Barra will break ground as the American auto industry's first female CEO, but her appointment is about more than the breaking of another glass ceiling.

As the daughter of a die maker who worked 39 years at GM, she recognizes the importance of the company's workers on the factory floor. As a trained engineer, she understands the significance of first-rate design and precise production. As a career employee of GM, she has an allegiance to the company yet recognizes the need for additional changes in its culture.

And, yes, as a woman she is attuned to the product-based likes and dislikes of women, who purchase the majority of automobiles (in the United States, at least).

Yet the departing CEO, Daniel Akerson, has made clear that Barra's selection was not the result of an affirmative-action program or diversity initiative. "Mary was picked for her talent, not her gender," Akerson said Tuesday.

A new breed

For decades, GM was very focused on the gender of its executives: They were all men. What's more, as the quality of the company's products declined, it was clear that too little attention had been paid to talent.

But a new breed of designers, engineers, plant managers and executives -- including Barra, many other women and, of course, men -- helped GM emerge from bankruptcy in 2009 and manufacture substantially improved cars and trucks.

GM still has challenges in a global marketplace. It's share of domestic sales are stagnant, there are problems with European operations and the company must deliver on its promise that GM vehicles will maintain long-term quality.

But clearly the company's positioning is dramatically better than it was before bankruptcy and a $49.5 billion bailout by the U.S. government. The rescue was risky but it succeeded: GM has been profitable for 15 consecutive quarters; on Monday, the Treasury Department sold the last of the stock it received in exchange for the bailout.

The auto-industry press credited Barra for her contributions to GM's recovery and the release of new models that have been praised by consumer groups. Economic analysts at Barclays publicly expressed pleasure that an engineer with firsthand experience in product development will lead GM.

Judged by performance

Of course, once the news of the U.S. auto industry's first female CEO runs its cycle, Barra will be judged on the performance of the company she leads -- as she should be.

General Motors is no longer the behemoth that it once was, when the conventional wisdom was: What's good for GM is good for the country. But the multinational automaker remains an important cog in America's -- and the world's -- industrial machine. And when the chief executive of that company is both talented and a precedent-setting woman, that is good for the country.

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